Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday asked the government if External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar raised the issue of handcuffing of Indians being deported from the US in his meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio before deportation.His comments drew a sharp retort from Leader of House JP Nadda who asked why such questions were not raised when similar action happened in the UPA regime.
Initiating discussion on Union Budget 2025-26, Chidambaram claimed the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) “stumbled badly in the last week” and it is now clear that the US informed India about the deportation of 104 illegal Indian immigrants who landed in Amritsar.
Referring to reports of a meeting between Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio a few days before the deportation, Chidambaram said, “I ask the government did the external affairs minister raise the matter with Mr Rubio? Did he know about the SOP? He told this house the SOP has been in place for many years since 2012.”
The senior Congress leader further said, “If he knew about the SOP, did he protest the SOP to the Secretary of State of the US? Did he know about the SOP, requires them to handcuff, tie the legs with ropes (of deportees)…If he knew about it did he protest to Mr Rubio? If he did not protest, why did he not protest?”
Chidambaram also sought to know if the external affairs minister offered to send an aircraft to the US to bring the Indian citizens back.
Responding to Chidambaram, Nadda said he was surprised as to why the former finance minister did not ask the same questions in 2012 when he was a union minister.
The BJP leader noted that the external affairs minister has already given an elaborate statement regarding the matter in the House and explained in detail.